Coming Home
by Alice Bekett
Summary: When four friends come home after being away for three years,they learn of strange disappearances,embodiments of the elements and learns that one of their own wields magick things start to go  downhill.Its a test that the gods have given them.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Three hundred years ago, the world of Katann was bustling. Both Magic and Magick were abundant. Both were part of daily life, Healers, Battlemages, Prophets and many others that have been lost to the ravages of time. The gods and people were happy, however the prophets ignored the signs of a coming catastrophe.

Insanity began to grip those wielding magick. Fate had not foretold of this, and the gods were angry, but could do nothing. Instead, they sent three of their children to Kataan, to cast a spell that would mark all those wielding magick, and all future wielders. Dunia, Realtia, and Terran cast the spell, and from then, and for all eternity the castors of magick were marked. Those that were discovered at birth were killed, a mercy killing many said. This method worked for three centauries, until one ignorant priestess allowed on small elven child to survive.

LINE BREAK

AN- Um, I actually _do_ own most of this, except for some things that I've taken from the _Player's Handbook_. I'm only using that and the other Dungeons & Dragons books I have at my disposal as guides, to help me figure out what I can do. Only other person I can think of that has anything to do with this is my fried Richard. But other than the D&D stuff, and I suppose some other content later on, I _do_ own this.


	2. Beginnings

Coming Home

Andraste stared up at the stars, laying on her back on her bedroll. Her pitch black eyes with no whites seemed to be watching something. Nailo wanted to know what.

"What are you looking at?" He asked quietly. He brushed his white blond hair away from his face, to touch a pointed tip of his ear. He and Andraste were the only elves in the group.

"The stars." She replied. "If I think before I go to bed, the voices don't scream at me as much."

Nailo winced in the mention of the voices that talked to her. He let the mention pass, however when he smelled the food that the group's leader, Aust, was cooking. He left Andraste and sat beside Diesa, the dwarf. They watched as Aust stirred the contents of the cooking pot with a large wooden spoon. Occasionally, with the hand he wasn't stirring with, he'd brush his long brown hair away from his lighter brown eyes.

"Elf." Diesa began gruffly, looking up from the _Teachings of Wuinar_ in her hands.

"Yes?" Nailo asked softly, not liking the tone the fighter was using.

"When was the last time you killed something evil?"

Aust chuckled, and looked up from the pot. "What, those bandits didn't count.?"

"They were enough." Nailo said softly.

"For what, exactly? They were dead within minutes!" Diesa exclaimed.

Nailo glared at her. "It was enough to calm my nerves!" He snapped.

"Quiet!" A soft voice from the other side of the fire exclaimed. Andraste sat up glaring at them. "You two may bring something down on us!" She hissed.

"I think she's mad!" Aust remarked quietly, barely holding back his mirth.

"Isn't she normally?" Diesa asked.

Andraste tried to glare, but she couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape. Nailo glared at the dwarf. "She's had a good day, she hasn't talked to anything that wasn't there at all today." He said defensively.

"It's only because we're going home and she knows it!"

Andraste twitched suddenly. She dug her fingernails into the crook of her elbow and murmured something under her breath. Diesa glanced at Nailo, who shrugged.

"Not tainted!" Andraste hissed. Nailo gently pried her hand away from her arm.

"You've never been marked, remember in Havren?"

"Magick!" Andraste murmured. "_You_ know"

Diesa shot Nailo a glare. Nailo looked bewildered, but didn't allow that to get in his way.

"The Shadow knows." Andraste continued. "Shadow will sustain, but only with tainted blood." She looked at the stars. "No magick, no Shadow."

Aust had walked over, by that time. He knew that even though she spoke often in riddles, that Andraste was right much of the time. "What do you mean?"

Anger burned in Andraste's eyes. "Shadow magick is a manifest of pure magick." She snapped, clearly having a lucid moment. "Marks are clever, if given a chance they will hide, burrow themselves in flesh, blood and bone." She paused. "Doesn't mean it can't burn!"

Diesa stepped back "I knew it! I should've known. We should've listened to that old man in Havren, Aust! I knew it!" Diesa rounded on Nailo. "What did she mean?"

"How should I know?" Nailo demanded. "She's always talking in bloody riddles, and it makes _no_ sense whatsoever until whatever happens, happens!"

Andraste wrenched her hand free from Nailo's grasp, lay down and rolled over, her back to the fire. Nailo sighed. He rested his head in his hands, and murmured something about going to bed. Aust sighed, casting a withering glare at the cook pot. "I just cooked that for nothing?"

Diesa shrugged. "No, I'm still hungry."

Aust smiled weakly. "Should we try to see if Andraste would eat anything?"

"No." Diesa said flatly. "Not without Nailo."

Aust nodded and began to fill two bowls with food.

Andraste sat bolt upright, looking around wildly. She ran a hand through her tangled mass of dark red hair, a hue only elves could have. She rubbed her forehead, and the blissful silence in her head was broken for the first time in days.

_Come with us to the Fortress. The Scarred would willingly help you and slow your descent to madness. _

"No!" Andraste hissed. "I will not become one of them"

_You could have so much more_ They hissed. _You could serve _them,_ the living embodiments of the elements themselves! _

Andraste took a deep breath and pushed them all back, blocking them off. Nailo stirred, and almost rolled into the remains of the fire. He stretched, and looked over. "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, I-I just had a dream"

Nailo paled. "Like the one in Hope?"

Andraste nodded. "Lot's of blood." She murmured. "Not happening now, or soon. Happened already."

She stood up shakily, and started rolling up her bedroll. Soon, she was sitting beside Nailo, brushing her long hair out with a hairbrush made of bone, with silver and onyx inlays. Diesa, who had woken up by that point, was re-working her long brown hair into its usual braid.

Nailo left Andraste to her thoughts. He began to contemplate the last three years. The adventure had begun around a year before Andraste began 'blacking out' and truly began to lose her mind. It had also been a year before she gained the pitch black eyes and had begun seeing things. Nailo sighed. Those had been simpler days, when Aust was always smiling or laughing and enjoying his role of leader. Andraste, with her lovely blue eyes Nailo even missed the sound of Diesa's laugh. The farther away from home that they were, the more weird circumstances became. Things had happened, they had hardened the friends, and no doubt to Nailo, helped Andraste down her road to madness.

"Ready?" Diesa asked suddenly, breaking Nailo's train of thought.

Nailo nodded. "Yes." Andraste stood, and lowered the cowl of her robes down to cover her eyes. Andraste grabbed Nailo's upper arm and they began to walk the familiar path home. "We're almost home." He murmured. He could tell that Andraste smiled, but he couldn't tell if it reached her eyes because of the window.

AN

Wow! I can't believe I updated again so soon! Once again, I must remind you I don't own D&D, but these characters, the world and whatnot do belong to me, even if Im not making any money.


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